Jindal: Americans expect “big change” in Washington

WEST DES MOINES- Republicans have to make good on their 2014 election promises by delivering bold conservative reforms that voters are demanding, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal told Iowa Republicans Tuesday evening.

Jindal, 43, a two-term GOP governor who is considered a possible 2016 presidential hopeful, said Republicans who will take control of Congress in January should pass conservative measures on energy, health care, tax reform, and education and give Democratic President Barack Obama an opportunity to follow the people's will and sign them into law.

'The American people are looking for big change in Washington,” Jindal told reporters before addressing several hundred Polk County Republicans attending a GOP holiday party.

'Voters are looking for a bold contrast. They're not looking for incremental change,” he said during interviews before his keynote address. 'They're looking for a hostile takeover in Washington D.C. If they don't get it with this group, they'll send another group in.”

Jindal said six years of Obama leadership have threatened the American dream with failed domestic policies of government dependence and wealth redistribution and a weakening of the nation's foreign policy. Republicans now have a chance to change that direction.

'Freedom is worth the fight; we must start now,” he said.

'This election was about a rejection of this top-down government heavy approach,” Jindal added.

Voters deliberately put conservatives in power last month in what turned out to be a 'nationalized” election, the Louisiana governor said. Now it's vitally important for newly elected Republican majorities to follow through on pledges they made or face the wrath of a frustrated electorate two years from now.

Jindal said Republicans should give President Obama a chance to do the will of U.S. voters during his last two years in office.

'Let him decide if he wants to be constructive, or if he wants to conclude his presidency as a liberal obstructionist ideologue who vetoes everything,” said Jindal.

If Obama chooses to be defiant and partisan for the next two years, Jindal said it may take until the 2016 election to put a Republican in the White House 'to make things right.”

Jindal, the first Indian American to be elected governor in the United States in 2007, has now made his fourth trip this year to the state that will kickoff the 2016 presidential selection process. He said he will make a decision about a presidential bid in the first half of 2015.

He told reporters he welcomes former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's decision Tuesday to form an exploratory committee for a possible 2016 presidential run, saying he's partial to governors and he believes Republicans have 'a great bench” heading into a new election cycle.

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Scott Brennan issued a statement Tuesday marking Jindal's trip to Iowa.

'I hope Gov. Jindal isn't expecting a warm welcome in Polk County today,” Brennan said. 'Between massive budget shortfalls, high poverty levels, and low-income rates, Jindal has already proven himself to be a failed Governor and poor leader. Simply put: Iowans don't need and can't afford his Louisiana way of governing.”